On Thursday night, NBC made the eleventh-hour decision to renew the serial-killer drama Hannibal, a critically acclaimed but low-rated thriller based on the characters from the Thomas Harris novel Red Dragon. The show, created by Bryan Fuller, stars Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist who kills and eats his victims, and Hugh Dancy as a criminal profiler Will Graham.

NBC's indecision about whether or not to pick up Hannibal for a second season was likely due to the show's subject matter and gore, which push the boundaries of network television with every episode. Its decision to renew the show may be attributable, in part, to the rapidly growing, rabid fan base that has embraced the show and spread its popularity across the internet. The meteoric rise of the Hannibal fandom in the two months since the drama first aired is unprecedented — the last show that inspired such a large, organized, and enthusiastic fandom to emerge immediately after its start was BBC's Sherlock in 2010.

Although Hannibal's only been on the air for two months, the show's popularity online is reaching a level of enthusiasm usually reserved for the "Big Three" internet fandoms.

Fortunately for the Fannibals, NBC made the decision to renew Hannibal on May 30, surprising many media critics. Entertainment Weekly reported that it was the "lowest-rated drama to get renewed among the major broadcast networks this season."